My older daughter will be a freshman in high school this fall, so we’ve got a few years before college decision time begins.

But I already know the magic words I’ll be listening for at every parent information session I attend: “We’ll help her get a job.”

That is the whole point, right? And those are the words that got my attention when I heard about the Business Profession Program at Xavier University’s Williams College of Business.

The program, launched in 2000, requires the college’s undergraduate business students to attend a certain number of career development workshops, seminars and events in addition to their required courses. All those extras point to helping students get good jobs after graduation.

“That’s the biggest challenge for students coming out of college these days — getting that first job,” said Matt Sokany, an owner of Loveland-based SSN Partners consulting firm and a Xavier business school grad whose son is a student there now.

“When I was in college back through 1976 and 1980, we were in a very tough and tight job market, and it was tough to land that job. While you could get some informal advice from professors, there wasn’t the organized networking available,” he said. “Fast forward to what Xavier’s done with this program, it’s remarkable in terms of what’s available to students.”

The program requires a certain number of mandatory sessions that teach such skills as résumé writing and business etiquette.

But there also are lots of optional programs and additional mentoring opportunities, said Alberto Gomez, a senior in the Williams College on track to graduate in December.

“In order to take the best advantage of it, the best things come from the things that aren’t mandatory,” Gomez said. “I’ve tried to get involved in as much as I can.”

That’s no easy feat for Gomez, who goes to school, works and swims for Xavier.

But students who go the extra mile stand out from their peers, said Bill Bagley, human resources director with Barnes Dennig who has taught and volunteered at Xavier for more than 20 years.

“I think even more of it needs to be mandatory,” he said. “I do a sophomore orientation at Xavier for the business school, and when I roll out the expectations of the business world, you can see their eyes open wide, like ‘I’m glad I’m a sophomore and not a senior.’ That’s the wake up call. They need a very strict go-forward plan to get ready for graduation.”

Still, the Business Profession Program provides more of that than most colleges and universities.

Focused on ‘the day after’

“Most universities drop the ball when it comes to finding good career positions for their graduates,” said Williams College Dean Ali Malekzadeh. “Most of us drop the ball when the students need us the most – the day after graduation.”

At Xavier’s Williams College, though, Malekzadeh and the other faculty and staff are focused on that day after through the Business Profession Program and other networking efforts.

Malekzadeh personally helps students with practice interviews and tells his board members when he has a top graduate in need of a job.

Even during the recession, nearly half the Williams College’s class of 2009 had accepted job offers before commencement, and 86 percent had a job within 180 days of graduation, said Lynda Grossman, director of the college’s Professional Development Center.

That’s lower than the previous year’s employment rates. The employment rate within 180 days of graduation was 95 percent for the class of 2008. Still, there was that recession last year.

Grossman doesn’t have final figures for the class of 2010 quite yet, but the employment rate is running nearly 20 percent higher than the previous year, she said.

“Parents absolutely eat this up when they hear about this program,” she said. “We do have proof that it works.”

Malekzadeh said he won’t be satisfied until the school’s employment rate reaches 100 percent. But he knows that the Williams College is ahead of the game because other business schools around the country have been calling to ask how to start their own, similar programs.

In fact, he plans to hold a training session for other business schools in the Williams College’s new facility next fall or spring.

“Honestly, if every business school in the country had a program like this and helped their students be better placed, good for all of us,” Malekzadeh said.

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